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About Vagheesh
Vagheesh M. Narasimhan is an Assistant Professor of Integrative Biology and Statistics and Data Science in the Biology faculty at the University of Texas at Austin. Initially trained in electrical engineering with a focus on computer vision and information theory, he earned a Master's degree in Biostatistics at Harvard University under Curtis Huttenhower. He completed his PhD in Genetics at the University of Cambridge and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, advised by Chris Tyler-Smith and Richard Durbin. Following his doctorate, Narasimhan served as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School with David Reich and Nick Patterson. His research addresses problems at the intersection of genomics, computer science, and statistics, with expertise in computational biology, evolutionary biology, genomics, genetics, and development. Research areas include statistics, big data, machine learning, health promotion, disease prevention, AI for health, computational medicine, and evolution.
Narasimhan's lab has secured funding from the Paul Allen Family Foundation, National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, MD Anderson Cancer Accelerator, Texas Biologics, Origen Health Research Center at Tecnológico de Monterrey, Lyda Hill Philanthropies, Love Tito’s Foundation, and BioMarin Pharmaceuticals. Key publications include 'The genetic architecture and evolution of the human skeletal form' (Science, 2023; cover article, opening plenary at American Society of Human Genetics Conference), 'Ancient DNA sheds light on the prehistory of the Uralic and Yeniseian peoples' (Nature, 2025), 'The genetic architecture and evolutionary consequences of the human pelvic form' (Science, 2025), 'Fast-evolving genomic regions underlie human brain development' (Nature, 2023), and 'The formation of human populations in South and Central Asia' (Science, 2019). In 2025, he received the UT Austin Provost's Research Excellence Award for the best research paper published by university faculty across all disciplines in a calendar year, recognizing his 2023 Science publication on human skeletal form. His work advances understanding of human evolution, skeletal genetics, and population history through ancient DNA and computational methods.
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